We’re reviewing the rest of the new Forge World releases today. This is the other half of our earlier review. Instead of showing off all the upgrades and bobbins, this article will focus on the two big model releases. Without further adieu.

The rules are available on their site. The Laser Destroyer is first and foremost and awesome-looking model. If I designed models, “Stick a shitload of Lascannons on it” would be my mantra for most things. Bringing this to the table is like surfboarding down an avalanche of skulls while shredding a sweet guitar solo and banging a supermodel. It’s that awesome.
The rules are, however, better than when we reported on it earlier. It’s a 130-point tank, and it comes with a single Ordnance, AP1 twin-linked Lascannon shot. That’s not that great, but it’s not terrible either. However, you can now fire twice if you sit still, and you can fire three times if you stand still and take what amounts to a Gets Hot roll. That’s a lot better, making this better than a standard all-Lascannon Predator!
I will never accept that this has four barrels and fires one, two, or three shots. I know the fluff is that it’s shooting them offset with a miniscule difference to “drill into” enemy armor, but it just feels like it should be a four-shot tank.
Here’s the Forge World write-up and a few pictures.

Tearing through the armour plating of enemy vehicles, the Vindicator laser destroyer array is a potent weapon of destruction. First retrofitted into the heavily armoured Deimos pattern Vindicator chassis during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, several Legions took to fielding this variant as a mainline battle tank, proving itself on many occasions as an able tank hunter. After millennia of brutal warfare across the galaxy, it is still in favour within the Space Marine Chapters, the Vindicator Laser Destructor continuing to bring retribution to the enemies of Mankind.

The Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer may be fielded in Space Marine Legion armies in Horus Heresy games and also in Space Marine armies in standard games of Warhammer 40,000. Its updated rules can be found HERE.

The rules for this guy are experimental, but available. This guy is an absolute monster, clocking in near 300 points. His S8/T8/W4/2+ armor save are basically a necessity to keep him moving, so he comes appropriately defended. He’s also packing a S10 Lascannon, which is pretty insane. He’s also got a Gravity-Gun-esque Graviton Ram that helps add a little punch if he’s going to be shooting something. He most likely will be focused on shooting tanks and buildings, though. He does need to shoot Troops to assault them, but his inability to run or Sweeping Advance really takes the punch out of assaulting.
The other neat part about the Ram is that it acts as a D weapon against buildings. This is very fun, as usually buildings feel just about impenetrable. This guy may be shooting as he lumbers across the field, but if he does end up next to a building it’s going to have a bad time.
Overall, I really like this unit. The game needs more on-foot Monstrous Creatures, and this guy has a great model and some decently balanced rules. I’d have to play it a few times to be sure, but I think Games Workshop landed on a winner, here.

The Thanatar-Calix class Siege-automata is a potent war machine and a wonder of the Mechanicum’s craft. Combining arcane and secret technologies, it carries a twin-linked mauler bolt cannon alongside a rare solex pattern heavy lascannon, whose beams of coherent light can reach far across a battlefield to lethal effect. The Thanatar-Calix’s most destructive armament though is the graviton ram, a weapon whose origins are lost in the Dark Age of Technology. The ram’s crushing waves of gravitational force can pulverise infantry and vehicles alike, and it can be utterly devastating at both range and close quarters.

The Thanatar frame, designed as a heavy weapons platform, is well armoured and further protected by atomantic shield generators, making it nearly impervious to all but the heaviest of weapons fire. Whilst it is slow to advance, the Thanatar-Calix’s durability allows it to close steadily on its target, moving ever nearer until its formidable weaponry can be brought into range.

The Thanatar-Calix may be taken in any Mechanicum army, including the Taghmata Omnissiah, Legio Cybernetica and Ordo Reductor army lists, in Horus Heresy games. Experimental rules for the Thanatar-Calix can be found HERE.